Warhorse (34 page)

“We could send a ship back to wait for them,” Ferrol told him. “Or drop our report and records at Solomon and then come back ourselves.”

Roman's eyebrows went up. “And how would we do that? As soon as we reach the Cordonale, Rrin-saa and the Tampies will be taking Sleipnir back home.”

Ferrol snorted. “And that's what this is
really
all about, isn't it? You're mad at the Starforce for their little verbal sleight of hand; and in return you're going to make them sweat a little.”

Roman regarded him thoughtfully. “Tell me something, Commander. Back in the 9862 system, just before the second shark appeared, you said the Tampies' anger over being lied to was nothing more than emotional manipulation. Do you really believe that?”

Ferrol glared; but the reflexive answer caught in his throat. He
had
believed it at the time, certainly—it fit all too well with the standard Tampy pattern of shifting blame and guilt wherever possible. But now, with ten days of extra reflection behind him, the whole situation had muddied considerably. It still seemed slightly incredible to him that the Admiralty might have deliberately set up their shark hunt in such a way as to bring
Amity
down along the way…and yet, he couldn't shake from his mind that final, self-satisfied expression on the Senator's face. The expression, and the veiled warning that the
Amity
project would soon be ending…

And as matters stood now, the Senate could lay the blame for
Amity
's cancellation squarely on the Tampies' shoulders. And most of the Cordonale would buy it.

“I think there was manipulation going on somewhere,” he conceded reluctantly. “I'm not sure anymore which end of it the Tampies were on.”

He braced himself for the inevitable sly smile or lift of eyebrows; to his intense relief Roman passed up the obvious comments on Ferrol's change of attitude. “All right,” the captain said instead. “Let's assume, then, at least for the moment, that Rrin-saa's reaction was a true indication of how deeply he and the other Tampies felt about being along on the shark hunt. We already know how strongly they feel these things—their giving up of Quentin showed that much.”

Or else, Ferrol thought sourly, it showed they'd realized such a deep and early trauma would make the calf useless, anyway. “Fine,” he said aloud. “Let's assume that. So what's your point?”

Roman's face remained calm…but abruptly Ferrol noticed the hardness lying beneath the surface. “My point,” the captain said quietly, “is that all of that was on the record, accessible to anyone who wanted to scuttle
Amity.
I think the verbal sleight of hand, as you put it, was done deliberately, and for that purpose.”

Ferrol took a careful breath. “There is, of course, no way to prove it.”

“I know. I was thinking more along the lines of offering the Tampies some sort of compensation.”

Ferrol blinked. It wasn't what he'd been expecting. “What sort of compensation?”

Roman shrugged, deliberately casual. “You've lived with them for the past year. What could we on the
Amity
offer that they might be willing to accept?”

Ferrol frowned at him…and then he got it. “You mean a
calf
?”

“It would seem a suitable parting gift,” Roman said. “Wouldn't you say?”

Abruptly, Ferrol realized his mouth was hanging open. “Are you suggesting,” he asked carefully, “that we just sit out here—in the middle of
nowhere—
until Sleipnir is ready to have its damn calf?”

Roman smiled faintly. “Why do you think that after putting you off for two days I agreed to see you now?”

“Because you didn't—” Ferrol broke off, feeling his mouth fall open again. “You mean…
now
?”

Roman nodded. “All the indications are there,” he said. “Rrin-saa tells me a Jump in about an hour will be just about optimum.”

Ferrol's eyes drifted to the port, and the unfamiliar star patterns beyond. “We're not going to do it here, then?”

“I thought we'd go ahead and Jump to Solomon first. That way the Tampies can take both Sleipnir and the new calf home with them immediately.”

Ferrol nodded. The stars—the unfamiliar, distant stars—seemed to blur, and he could feel a lump form in his throat. So it was over. The Tampies had pulled the plug on
Amity
, and Roman was going to roll over for them…and if the Senator's reading of the aliens was right, space would soon belong to the Cordonale again.

And for want of a little daring, humanity would quietly settle for a draw.

For want of a little daring…
“With the captain's permission,” he said between stiff lips, “I'd like to request the web boat duty.”

Roman cocked his head, and Ferrol held his breath. “Very well, Commander,” Roman nodded. “You'd best get below, then, and start assembling your team.” He paused, his eyes boring into Ferrol's. “Remember that it'll be
Amity
's last calving,” he added quietly. “Make it a memorable one.”

A lump rose into Ferrol's throat. “Don't worry, sir. I will.”

“Rein lines secure,” Yamoto reported from the seat beside him, her voice sounding hollow behind her filter mask. “Calf's starting to pull away.”

Ferrol nodded, feeling a tightness in his chest as he turned his head to look at the three Tampies sitting silently behind Yamoto. “Wwis-khaa?—We have control yet?”

“He is calming,” the Tampy said, sounding vaguely distracted. Three of the lights on the amplifier helmet, Ferrol noted, were still red. “It will be soon.”

“Good.” Ferrol turned toward the mike. “Lander to
Amity
,” he called. “Calf is secured; full control soon. Any problems with Sleipnir?”

“None at all,” Roman told him. “Sso-ngii reports no stress or trauma. Any trouble at your end?”

“Not so far,” Ferrol said, striving to sound casual. “At least nothing that Wwis-khaa will admit to. Looks like we aren't going to need extra help in the Handler department, after all.”

“Murphy's Law,” Roman said dryly. “Still, better to err on the side of caution than the other direction.”

“Certainly after what happened with Quentin,” Ferrol agreed, ears straining to pick up every nuance. But if the captain suspected Ferrol had had other reasons for bringing three Handlers along, it didn't show in his voice. “Have you decided on a name for the calf yet, sir? Or aren't we going to bother, given that the Tampies will be taking it straight home?”

“I thought perhaps we'd go with something like
Epilog
,” Roman said. “Appropriate, and a little more subtle than, say,
Deathblow
.”

Ferrol winced at the bitterness in the other's voice. On the other hand, the more of Roman's mind that was tied up with resentment toward the Senate and Starforce, the less he'd have left to wonder if Ferrol was up to anything. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Do we have a plan yet on how we're turning Epilog and Sleipnir over to the Tampies?”

“I've already gotten a courier message through to the Kialinninni corral,” Roman said. “The Tampies will be sending a pair of piggyback ships here to get them. Though it'll probably be a few more hours before they can leave Kialinninni, so perhaps it's just as well you took a full complement of Handlers out there with you.”

Ferrol frowned. “A few
hours
? They have a party going on over there or something?”

Faintly, he heard the hiss of expelled breath. “Apparently the Tampies have decided to respond to the shark threat by pulling the bulk of their fleet back to the corral,” he said. “What that gains them, I'm not really sure.”

Behind his filter mask, Ferrol felt his lip twist with contempt. So the Senator had indeed been right. The Tampies weren't going to turn their space horses loose, but burying them all at Kialinninni wasn't really much different. Either way, they were effectively giving up. “Gains them some time,” he grunted. “Maybe.” He half-turned. “Wwis-khaa?”

“He is calm,” the Tampy said. “We are speaking.”

“Good.” Ferrol swallowed hard. “Yamoto, there's a small datapack box strapped into one of the seats back near the entryway,” he told her. “Go get it for me, would you?”

“Yes, sir.” Yamoto slipped off her restraints and kicked her way aft.

And this was it. Keying the direction vector he'd so carefully worked out into the helm, Ferrol reached over and switched off the coram laser. “Wwis-khaa,” he said quietly, “bring Epilog to the indicated direction. Nice and easy.”

“Your wishes are ours,” the Tampy said, and a moment later Ferrol felt a slight pressure on his side as the calf and lander came around. “It is done.”

“All right. Now; the bright star directly ahead is Sirius. Can Epilog see it?”

There was a long pause. Above the background hum of the lander's systems, Ferrol could hear the pounding of his heart… “He can,” Wwis-khaa said at last.

“Good.” Ferrol took a deep breath. “Jump us there.”

This time the pause was even longer. “Wwis-khaa? Did you hear me?”

“Ffe-rho—”

“I said, did you hear me?” Ferrol cut him off, turning to face the other. Above the filter mask, the alien eyes were staring unblinkingly back at him.

“I hear.”

“Then Jump. That's an order.”

Wwis-khaa's eyes closed briefly; opened again. “Your wishes are ours,” he seemed to sigh—

And an instant later blue-white light flooded in through the forward viewport.

“What the
hell
?” Yamoto snapped, shooting forward with the datapack box clutched in her hand. “Commander, we just Jumped!”

“I know,” he assured her. “Don't worry; everything's under control. All right, Wwis-khaa,” he added, keying the second vector into the helm, “now move Epilog to
this
heading. We'll want to Jump as soon as we're in position.”

He confirmed that they were indeed turning the proper direction, then turned to face Yamoto. “Question, Lieutenant?” he asked mildly.

“Uh…yes, Commander,” she said, her voice cautious. Over her filter mask, he could see tension lines around her eyes. “I wasn't informed we'd be leaving the
Amity
.”

“No, you weren't,” he agreed. “Wwis-khaa, how are we coming?”

“Epilonninni is almost ready,” the Tampy said.

“Good. Keep it moving.”

Yamoto dropped her eyes to her console. “We're going to Arachne, sir?”

“Briefly, yes,” Ferrol nodded. “Or rather, for the Tampies and me it'll be briefly. We'll be dropping you off before we leave.”

She looked up at him again. “Commander, whatever you're doing—”

“Is none of your concern,” he cut her off, putting some steel into his voice. He had no intention of getting Yamoto entangled in this, and the simplest and safest way to do that was to keep her as totally in the dark as possible. “As I said, you'll be dropped off at Arachne, and your part will be over.”

For a long minute she gazed at him, her eyes hard with suspicion. Ferrol returned the glare as calmly as he could, listening to his heart pounding in his ears and feeling the bulge of the needle pistol pressing into his side under his tunic. The last thing he wanted was to have to start waving the damn gun around…

Almost reluctantly, Yamoto let her eyes drift away. “Understood, Commander,” she said with a sigh. “Here's your package,” she added, holding out the datapack box she still held. “If you really want it, that is.”

“Of course I want it,” he growled, taking it. Opening it, he selected one of the slender cylinders and handed it back to her. “This is for you: all the navigational data on Arachne and the colony there. We'll be transferring you to a lifeboat once we reach the planet, and I'm afraid you'll have to make your own way down. Think you can manage it?”

“Of course,” she said, professional pride momentarily eclipsing her misgivings.

“Good. Wwis-khaa, how are we doing?”

“Epilonninni is ready,” the Tampy said.

“Can Epilog see the star all right?” he asked, double-checking. A blazing star like Sirius was a dead-simple target to Jump to; Arachne's sun was something else entirely.

“He can see the star,” Wwis-khaa said.

Ferrol gave the scanners a quick check. Luck was with him; the
Amity
still hadn't caught up. His maneuver must have caught Roman completely flat-footed. “All right, then: Jump.”

The blue Sirian light vanished from the side viewport; simultaneously, an unremarkable red-orange star popped into view directly in front of them. “We're here,” Ferrol announced, striving for a confidence he didn't feel.
Here
; but if his direction vector had been wrong,
here
wouldn't be the Arachne system. And if his calculation of the planet's orbital position had been wrong…Feeling sweat breaking out on his forehead, he keyed for a proximity scan.

And found immediately that his fears had been for nothing. “Arachne, ho,” Yamoto said, peering at her own displays. “Right on the nose, too—forty-eight thousand kilometers away, bearing six port, eighty-two nadir. Just slightly downslope.”

Ferrol took a careful breath. “Make for the planet, Wwis-khaa,” he ordered the Tampy. “Two gees acceleration, or as much as Epilog can handle.”

“Your wishes are ours.”

For a minute Ferrol's shoulders pushed against his restraints as Wwis-khaa turned Epilog nadir toward Arachne. The mottled blue-white crescent appeared in the forward viewport, the pressure eased and changed direction, and he was pushed back into his seat. “On our way,” Yamoto said unnecessarily. “Two gees acceleration.”

Ferrol nodded and keyed the lander's scope screen, his stomach beginning to knot up again. He'd ordered the
Scapa Flow
to wait for him here…but that had been nearly two months ago. If they'd gotten tired of waiting…